The law-house:
“We are here. We don’t need the paper, just a formality. Let’s have a seat, shall we?”- He extended his left hand, pointing to chairs at a round table with plates of fruits on
“Ok, get straight to the point”- Everyone was sitting, I was holding the fox-girl in my arms, but she didn’t say anything.
“You see heroes, this task is about the Demi-Human Kingdom, there is one person, the fox princess Emiko, a terrorist, and criminal, Emiko killed hundreds of my guards and stole merchandise from me, I need you to take care of this problem for me, it will be our secret plus, I have a good prize for all of you. 5 Cobalt coins per person of the team, so all 5 of you will get 5 cobalt coins for every person, a total of 15 cobalt coins, what do you say”- He laid 15 cobalt coins on the table
“Yes, we will help you. Daisuke is pretty charming, ignore his dazed state right now, Daisuke, I and Senri got this under our control, we will track Emiko in no time”- Okura’s neck was locked in place, watching the king, eyes wide with a frown
“Diplomacy can work as well if you bring her to us alive, the prize will double for everyone.”- Everyone in the group was tense but didn’t show it
“He is full of shit Daisuke, he is lying about Emiko, well not a lot, but he is lying”
“Lying about what?”
“Yes, she killed thousands of guards, but she did it to save demi-humans”
Everyone was silent until we reached the mansion. We are on the lower floor, and the living room and kitchen are connected
“First, why did you buy a slave, Daisuke? And second, this fucktard of a king wants us to continue to support his slavery.”- Okura slammed his fist against the table
“I couldn’t resist it, plus it’s a better chance for her. I am going to wash her right now. I and Great Sage have a plan too”- The fox girl is just going with whatever is happening around her, she doesn’t say anything if I touch her or even speak to her.
“Well, take care of the kid first, we will talk after this”
I need to wash her, but how can I? I know that there is soap here, what if she has an illness?
“I am coming to Daisuke. I will take a look at her there”- Senri followed me to the bathroom
“It’s ok”- The bathroom always had running water, well Senri was the source of water, she is the magic-user, that can create warm or boiling water at will
“No, I want to help too. She is so cute, but does she have a name?”- Senri leaned down, patting her
“Akari, my name is Akari”- She spoke for the first time.
“Nice to meet you Akari, I am Senri, he is Daisuke. Are you ok now?”
“Yes”
“Are you hungry? What is your favorite food?”
“Food?”
“She can eat later Daisuke, she needs a bath and some healing magic being cast. It’s a miracle that she isn’t sick”- Senri was holding her left hand the over the tub casting a water spell filling the tub with water, and casting healing magic with her right. In this world magic is done with your hands, your dominant hand has the most potency for attack while your non-dominant has the most potential for healing. I remember Senri tell me that some mages can use spells from both hands and be just as potent
“Is there something we can use as a soap substitute? I know that your magic water comes with soap right?”- I dipped my left hand in the water to test the water, it was pleasant to the touch, not that hot or cold, the perfect combination
“Yes, it does. It takes a lot of magic out of me. Maybe I can teach you how to do it, too. For the soap you need to use Aroma Magic which creates magic aromas that can be solidified or combined with liquids, there are useful ways to use both types of magic, I will teach you later. It is easy, you will see”
“So, where did you put the brushes and towels this time?”- Senri has the habit of changing the position of certain things whenever she wishes, this includes bath towels
“Sorry, I am going to grab them now, take care of Akari”
Akari was sitting still in the water, her face was blank, and her eyes were fixated on one direction
“Are you feeling ok?”- Stepping towards Akari, she didn’t seem to even notice me
“Yes”- Her lips barely moved, her head inched slowly towards me
“What happened?”- Is it a good idea to touch her right now? She is spacing out more than me
“Nothing”
“Really?”
“Yes, please, I am ok”- Akari covered her head with her hands holding herself in a tight grip
“It’s ok. No reason to be scared here. Relax for a bit, Me and Senri will take good care of you”- Akari was still covering herself, not wanting to speak or move. I tried to pat her head, her hands were shaking violently the moment I tried it
“I am sorry”- Akari cried
“No, I am sorry for doing this”
“What is happening right now?”
“Don’t worry too much. You are safe here, get yourself cleaned first”
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“Why did you buy me?”- Akari, was washing, Senri’s magical aroma water works just like normal shampoo, but it’s better, after some minutes of sitting it creates a big bubble foam that covers the entire water tub
“Found them Daisuke”- Senri was back, with the towels, her head tilted to the right, looking at Akari
“Ok, now, do your magic”
“Look, if you can copy my magic flow, you can perform it too”
“Great Sage?”
“Yes, basically, how magic flows through the body when it casts spells, you should gain the Magic Sense skill once you focus magic energy in your eyes for a long period of time. Afterward, when you use magic sense I will be able to copy the magic flow of any spell caster, and every time I copy a spell you will get the said spell as a skill, focus Daisuke, focus!”
Breathe in breathe out, focus on your eyes, focus on Senri’s hands, how they move
“Just a little more Daisuke, just a little more, I am getting the hang of this”
#Skill Granted: Magic Sense#- This voice is different from Great Sage, it’s still a female voice but somehow differs, it’s colder than his, more robotic, is this like something granting me the skills?
“That is known simply as The Great Voice. It can grant and revoke skills from people, it will grant you a skill if you meet the requirements for it, for example now you focused your magic energy to see the magic flow, so you gained the skill. It’s simple”
*Use Skill: Magic Sense*
“Ok, I can see the magic flow”- Long but small tubes that looked like blood vessels were all around inside Senri’s body
“Those are mana vessels, everyone transported or born here has them, through them the magic flows”
“Great Sage, can you copy the magic flow?”
“Of course, just keep staring at her a bit longer”
“That is amazing, Daisuke. Great Sage should have told you by now that you need to stare at my magic flow for a while”- Senri was still, her hand barely gathered any mana
“So, why isn’t the aroma spell working?”
“Well, it takes a lot of time to charge, plus we need a very strong antibacterial effect. We don’t know how dirty Akari is, with that much filth she will get sick instantly”
“Should be about ready. Take your chance to do the spell yourself”
Ok, so the spell is the following, hand in front
“How does it work, Great Sage? Copy and paste?”
“Yes”- A bar of soap started to form in our hands, it seems the 2 of us began the process at the same time, but how did I gather as many properties for the disinfectant as Senri. Maybe it will work
#Skill Granted: Water Manipulation, Water Ball#- Why Water? Wasn‘t this Aroma Manipulation?
#Skill Granted: Aroma Manipulation, Master Craftsman#
“Yes, Master Craftsman refers that high-level aroma spells don’t affect you, and you can cancel, deflect other Aroma spells, and one thing since your level is master you can do like Senri but in a shorter amount of time
#Skill Granted: Ice Manipulation#
“Ohhh, this lets you manipulate ice and freeze water at will.”
“You did it Daisuke!!!”- Senri compared the soap bars
“Yours is different, it’s actually better”- Senri smiled while giving my bar of soap back
“How did these become solid? Shouldn’t aroma spread in the air?”
“It’s should, but you gained Water and Ice Manipulation, so combining them makes a bar of soap, you don’t need to be a genius to understand this”
“It is strange. But if you have ice manipulation, it shouldn’t be a problem. You can hear The Voice granting you skills, can’t you?”
“Yes, kinda strange to do magic this way, instead of using skills to do it automatically for you”
“Well, it’s easier for me”- Senri, was looking at Akari, with a bar of soap in her left hand, she slowly touched Akari with the soap, washing her, Akari trembled, she is not used to being touched. No, she is scared of being touched, she may have gone through hell until now. She needs safety
“Great Sage, what about Emiko? Can you tell me the whole story?”
“Well she is against the slavery of demi-humans, killed a few guards to save the enslaved demi-humans here and is now wanted by all countries
“Is this really the reason?”
“That is the reason the king wants to kill Emiko, she tried to do that. Look, my idea is to free all demi-humans from slavery, the demi-human village near this town is like a city-state, self-sustained with local economy. This kingdom interferes a lot with them, with the fields and materials, helping them might reveal things about Emiko, there are a bunch of demi-humans imprisoned by King Luxor. He keeps them in his palace in Wiefra, he grew up here. We will see more today, give me some more time to think about this Daisuke”
“Are you with us Daisuke?”- Senri’s right hand was touching my face
“Yes, talking with Great Sage, sorry for being idle”
“Don’t worry, can you help me cook, Akari is hungry, and I don’t know what she will like. She is awfully silent”- Senri, was drying Akari, now where will we get clothes for her.
“Daisuke, take care of Akari for a bit. I will get her some clothes”- Senri wrapped Akari in a towel, her gaze was still lingering on a spot in the room, she was avoiding eye contact
“What do you usually eat Akari?”- Cautiously taking steps toward her, I don’t want to scare her
“I cook most of the time, if the master wants to give me food, I will eat anything”
“It’s not like that here. I will train you in combat and other life skills”
“You lack life skills as well Daisuke, everything you did until now was because I helped you. Without my overpowered knife, you wouldn’t make it far”
“I know, I am grateful that you are with me, Great Sage”
“Don’t mention it, kid. Just don’t go overboard”
“Teach me? Ok. What do I need to do?”- Akari turned her head to look at me, she was staring at me, with increasing intensity
“Yes, it will be from cleaning and cooking to combat and crafting. We will start easy for the first few times”
“I already know how to craft basic stuff. Where will you keep me?”
“Well, you will sleep in Senri’s room. Don’t worry about living with you, Senri especially is very nice towards everyone”
“I am back”- Senri entered the room, in her hands a huge pile of clothes
“Let’s see what will she like?”- Akari turned to look at the gigantic pile of clothes
“Isn’t that a little overkill?”
“Don’t worry, that only 15% of the clothes I own”- 15%? This pile is 1 meter tall and 1 meter wide, how did she carry all of them?
“I like white a lot”- Akari moved towards the clothes pile, touching it
“You want white. Ok, let’s search. Daisuke, go and cook please, ask Okura to help you too”
“On it”
I haven’t cooked in a while. I wonder how much time has passed
“Auto-pilot”
It was strange this time, autopilot mode
“Yes, it’s strange because I want to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“You spent more than 4 months here, almost 5 full months with the Heroes. The notes in your diary were inaccurate of the time spent. You didn’t realize the time passing because of my Auto-Pilot mode, when you discovered it you sounded like it was always part of you. There are many things I do that you aren’t aware of. You spent a total of 4 months here, almost 3 months with the heroes, and a few weeks at the tavern. You weren’t aware of this because of Auto-Pilot. It’s ok if you don’t remember everything. It’s ok, let’s end it here”